Participate in my PhD research!

[shmeck]

I could write a PhD dissertation on OotS. If I did, I would submit the following as Rich's single greatest achievement: he somehow managed to select a creature for MitD that has kept all of us guessing & "in the dark" for over 661 strips, and after giving us so many big clues. Us, the crazy freaks who have memorized every version of every Monster Manual and who devour supplements like Diet Mountain Dew. He's dancing circles around us at our own game.. not to mention that the strip about a game is also a game itself. It's brilliant. I love this strip & I love all of you for loving it.

Rather than lavishing indiscriminate praise, I'd like to focus this thread on whether or not you think the choice of MitD's creature type is the ultimate coup of the strip. If not, what trumps it?

[Altaria87]

I could write a PhD dissertation on OotS. If I did, I would submit the following as Rich's single greatest achievement: he somehow managed to select a creature for MitD that has kept all of us guessing & "in the dark" for over 661 strips, and after giving us so many big clues. Us, the crazy freaks who have memorized every version of every Monster Manual and who devour supplements like Diet Mountain Dew. He's dancing circles around us at our own game.. not to mention that the strip about a game is also a game itself. It's brilliant. I love this strip & I love all of you for loving it.

Rather than lavishing indiscriminate praise, I'd like to focus this thread on whether or not you think the choice of MitD's creature type is the ultimate coup of the strip. If not, what trumps it?

What about V's Gender?
Or Haley's Dad's fate?
Or how the strip will end in general?
or V's 4 words (if they haven't been said yet?)

[Crel]

I'm not quite sure what to say. I would suggest that you go for it. I don't really know how much stuff is on the boards that you could use as source material, but I think that it sounds like a very good idea. IMO, there isn't anything else that has left us guessing nearly as much as MitD's identity. V's Gender will never be known, and probably would not be considered important by a professor because it doesn't have anything to do with the plot (yet, at least). Comments about Haley's dad (in the online strips I have read) have been far and few between. The four words are just too easy to argue about. And, of course, the end is just too unpredictable.

I think it would be challenging to write an (accepted by the professors) doctorate paper on this, but a thesis? Definitely. Maybe try that out, and then expand it for you PhD. But then, what do I know? :P

[Jubal_Barca]

V's Gender and the MITD's race are the two master questions really.

[Ridureyu]

Could you really write 300+ pages on the significance of this?

[[TS] Shadow]

What about V's Gender?
Or Haley's Dad's fate?
Or how the strip will end in general?
or V's 4 words (if they haven't been said yet?)

V's four words have been said: that mystery's over. Let's not start that arguement again.

Anyway, good luck on your paper! I wish I could write my English essay on OotS...

[JonestheSpy]

Rather than lavishing indiscriminate praise, I'd like to focus this thread on whether or not you think the choice of MitD's creature type is the ultimate coup of the strip. If not, what trumps it?

Story, plot, character development - you know, that kind of thing.

I think it would be a mistake to confuse the complusive strip-dissection by a few folks on the internets with what really draws people to the comic. Inspiring said plot-mitutiae obsession is definitely not Rich's 'greatest achievement' - you find people behaving like that all the time about almost any ol' thing - Harry Potter, baseball statistics, birdwatching, whatever.

To me, the ultimate coup will simply be the story ending and resolving in a satisfying way.

And I hope the question of V's gender is never resolved.

[Kilbia]

Sorry, but having lived for years with someone who is working on her diss, I have to take the original post as someone who isn't serious about it. For one thing, I am hard pressed to believe that any grad student who's ABD would not at least mention the field of study for which this dissertation would be written.

[Haedrian]

I don't remember "V's 4 words", anyone care to remind me?

[shmeck]

yes Kilbia i'm not really writing a dissertation. i don't mean to mislead anyone although the thread title is actually very sneaky & misleading & i'm sorry i couldn't help it. i'm already a professor. i'm just fascinated with the way the MitD mystery hooks this particular audience (me included), and how much he has revealed (a lot!) and how we are still stumped!

yes, JonestheSpy, i agree story/plot/character development is the major strength of the work.. and i'm not confusing plot-minutia obsession with the strong writing which, as you point out, is the major attraction. what i'm saying is that it's a credit to his skill that Rich has a) capitalized on this particular audience's tendency to obsess over that kind of thing, and, more importantly b) pulled it off & kept us guessing so long! it's really masterful & i'm curious if there are other elegant things like that which other fans have noticed-- things that go beyond solid storytelling.

[BardicLasher]

I think the legitimacy of the MitD question will depend a lot on what it turns out to be when it is revealed.

Rich has said it's a monster not of his own creation, and he's dropped hints, but we've also got to keep in mind a few things...

-The more obscure the book, the less likely it is for us to figure out. SRD monsters make for much more of an achievement than non SRD monsters, and so on.

-The more its changed from a base creature, the less likely it is for us to figure out. Guesses such as Tarrasque and Pit Fiend and the sort, while following many clues, still suffer from the problem of Rich must have changed it somewhat for it to work. If I ask you what's blue, fuzzy, hyperintelligent, and spits lightning bolts, you have no way of guessing that it's a Pikachu, because I'm giving you false information.

Thus, I think the MitD thing isn't his greatest achievement: it's a guessing game that he's deliberately trying to screw us up on by either picking an obscure creature or modifying the creature enough to make it only tangentially related to the "right answer."

[lord_khaine]

I could write a PhD dissertation on OotS. If I did, I would submit the following as Rich's single greatest achievement: he somehow managed to select a creature for MitD that has kept all of us guessing & "in the dark" for over 661 strips, and after giving us so many big clues. Us, the crazy freaks who have memorized every version of every Monster Manual and who devour supplements like Diet Mountain Dew. He's dancing circles around us at our own game.. not to mention that the strip about a game is also a game itself. It's brilliant. I love this strip & I love all of you for loving it.


well, thats assuming we will actualy ever see what the monster is, and that it is something from the monster manual.

[shmeck]

-The more obscure the book, the less likely it is for us to figure out. SRD monsters make for much more of an achievement than non SRD monsters, and so on.
yes, i agree!

-The more its changed from a base creature, the less likely it is for us to figure out.
true. the "reveal" is going to make it or break it. so far he hasn't disappointed on big moments like this, but you're right that the proof is in the pudding.

Thus, I think the MitD thing isn't his greatest achievement...
ok, then what is? so far in the story, i mean.

[T-O-E]

Could you really write 300+ pages on the significance of this?

299 will be quotes from the forums.

[pendell]

Another fruitful topic may be a paper is the way the Giant is able to develop such strong characters with two dimensional stick figures.

Xykon. Awesome villain, at times comical and other times frightening. Redcloak; sympathetic evil-for-the-sake-of-good. O-chul: Toughest Paladin ever. The Crazy She-Paladin. Daigo and Kazumi. The mysterious Monster-san.

Lots of comics and stories have a few well-developed protaganists, a really well-developed antagonist, and the rest are shadowy extras. But in OOTS *all* the characters are interesting, each in their own way. The villains, the heroes, even the second-tier characters.

Heck, even the Guy with a Halberd has a fan club, and he doesn't even have a name!

An interesting question might be how the Giant is able to overcome the limitations of his medium to achieve such a powerful creation. Indeed, it could be argued that the medium -- two dimensional stick figures -- *facilitates* powerful expression rather than inhibits it. If it takes 2 hours to draw up an NPC, obviously you're not going to have many NPCs. But when you can draw as many NPCs as you like in 15 minutes, it allows you to concentrate on other aspects of the personality besides appearance. It thus becomes less of a comic and more prose, almost literary.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[BardicLasher]

ok, then what is? so far in the story, i mean.

The ability to draw compelling action sequences and show emotional depth in character faces with a minimalistic art style.

[shmeck]

excellent points. while it is more literary than most comics, i'm not sure it has to do with the stick figures-- it may not takes any less time to make an OotS comic than a hand-rendered non-stick figure comic. i think Rich is just a good writer.

[derfenrirwolv]

i think it will depend on what the monster is revealed AS. If its something from a bizarre bargain bin source book or a video game many here haven't played then no, the story and excellent character advancement will far outstrip weaving subtle clues about the Creature in the darkness's species

[shmeck]

visually, it's also a great blend of cinematic action & comedic timing.